ROAD TO UTOPIA [EXPANDED]

The first mention of Utopia goes back to 8th July 2020 with a photo of Trav wearing a full Balenciaga moto gear suit. This year included a lot of big collaborations and new business endeavours including a McDonalds meal, announced his own seltzer brand ‘Cacti’, deals with PlayStation and working on the Tenet soundtrack for Christopher Nolan. All of these collabs obviously also came with hyped merch that could be bought through shop.travisscott.com

Later this year Travis released a self directed music video for new single “FRANCHISE” featuring Young Thug & M.I.A

At the start of 2022, Travis was first seen with the Utopia chain which was designed by artist Takashi Murakami and made by jeweller Eliantte. These chains were then spotted on and presumably gifted to Young Thug, Gunna, Roddy Ricch, 21 Savage and fellow Cactus Jack members (Don Toliver, Luxury Tax & Sheck Wes). There was a rumour that those who had the chain would be featured on the album but this was never confirmed and fans were left to speculate.

In February 2021 Travis Scott was the face of i-d Magazine titled ‘THE UTOPIA IN DYSTOPIA ISSUE’

On the 25th June 2021 the ‘CACTUS JACK FOR DIOR SUMMER 2022’ show took place during Paris Fashion Week showcasing the collection whilst also previewing new music to provide a soundtrack for the show matching the pieces and set design. This was the first time hearing possible Utopia single ‘Lost Forever’ a spacey track featuring Westside Gunn and James Blake.

Later in the Summer Travis posted an image of a script teasing a project with American independent entertainment company A24. The title was partially hidden only leaving ‘IA’. Leaving fans to debate the title being either Dystopia or Utopia. This information is still unknown which allows fans to create theories or even wonder if we will ever get to see this potential film project. 

At the end of the year a 2-pack of singles were released ESCAPE PLAN/MAFIA. These fit more of a ‘Dystopia’ vibe as portrayed through the cover art which reads ‘THE TRUE DYSTOPIA IS HERE!” .

On 16th May 2022 Travis performed his latest  track ‘Mafia’ and once again teased new song ‘Lost Forever’ at the Billboard Music Awards. This performance was very cool and showed the possible aesthetic for Utopia through the snowy theme of the stage design.

In July - Travis and Nike joined forces again to release the Jordan 1 Low Travis Scott Reverse Mocha .

On 6th and 7th of August Travis returned to performing again with 2 back to back shows at the O2 in London. I was lucky enough to go on the second night and even managed to get some of the remaining merch as most of it was sold out from the day before. It was speculated that the merchandise alone brought in £1 million in revenue. I actually saw British Radio host Julie Adenuga (Skepta & JME’s sister) in the queue but was too awkward and didn’t wanna disturb her😂

Anyway the show was great - Chase B (Cactus Jack DJ) hyped the crowd up by playing mega UK hit at the time Doja by Central Cee and getting the crowd to chant FREE YOUNG THUG!

Trav was insane performing all his hits and even previewing for the first time new track titled ‘Gods Country’ which is rumoured to be a collab with Kanye. He also interacted with the crowd getting fans on the mic to rap along to ‘Mafia’ - he probably gave them something he was wearing as a gift but I can’t remember.

At the end of the show Travis slipped up saying he’d love to perform at Wimbledon (actually meaning Wembley stadium) which was very funny. La Flame then finished the show by stating he’d be back when it’s album time.

Let’s fast forward to 12th May 2023 where the rollout officially starts to begin! Travis comments  “It’s Time” on Mike Deans instagram post - this suggesting that the album is done and all that is left is for Mike to mix/master it. The day after Scott appears at the Houston Astros game and claims he played the album for the team in the locker room. This continues with rumours of Trav playing the album for other famous athletes such as Kevin Durant, Tom Brady and LeBron James. 

Later in the week Mike Dean posts on Instagram a photo of him mixing a track with caption ‘TOPIA tagging Travis. The Weeknd also comments “🍭🍭🍭” . Leaving fans to speculate if this track feautures The Weeknd and what is the actual title of the album. Next is when a big part of the rollout starts - the next few days paparazzi capture photos of Travis, RaysCorruptedMind and his bodyguards with Utopia branded briefcases handcuffed to their wrists. The vehicle they entered also featured a ‘TOPIA’ number plate. The Jordans spotted on Scott’s feet also seem to include a Utopia logo on them. These may be friends and family exclusive or possibly set to rerelease along side the album. News then comes out that  Travis plans to continue his “crazy rollout” with more “disruptive” events. 

On the 22nd May Scott attends ‘The Idol’ red carpet at the 76th annual Cannes film festival to support Abel. He is once again seen with the Utopia briefcase, a few days later The Weeknd posts to his instagram a picture of him and his bodyguard with the briefcase along with a photo of him and Trav the same night.

"UTOPIA WILL BE DONE WITH WHEN TRAV AND I SAY ITS DONE DO NOT RUSH LET US COOK"

The briefcase was again spotted with Travis whilst he visited the UK. He was first seen in Manchester, then days later came out at SZA’s Manchester show. It is rumoured that at this time they both recorded music together for Utopia. Scott was then seen in London, once again with the 'UTOPIA' briefcase, on Abbey Road recreating The Beatles album cover. By the 17th June Travis is seen around London, and is later brought out by SZA at the O2, whose bodyguard is seen with the 'UTOPIA' briefcase.

The “Nike Attack” shoe is announced to drop June 23rd with a trailer starring Travis Scott and John McEnroe. The visuals featured Trav and Chase B wearing Nike x Utopia all white clothing pieces with the background music being the “Gold Blackberry” instrumental.

Travis is seen filming a music video in Nigeria and shortly after in Iceland. A rumour begins to spread that the album trailer will feature him “looking for Utopia” around the world. This links with Scott’s festival run and another video surfacing of him spray painting “Utopia” on a wall in Terragona, Spain.

On June 30th, the long awaited Lil Uzi collab “Aye” releases. On streaming services the song was first not well received by fans but Travis proved it is perfect “Rage Music” for live performances. At his Italy show, Travis states he is performing "new shit off UTOPIA", before performing ‘Aye' with Lil Uzi Vert once again, hinting that the track could also be on the album

Chase B: "Pink Tape. Utopia.

Travis. Uzi.”

This could make sense as the track was originally made for Utopia and it seemed like Trav had gifted the song to Uzi however it could be a situation where the song appears on two separate albums. This has happened before with the hit song “pick up the phone” which appeared on both Young Thug’s “JEFFERY” and Travis Scott’s “Birds In The Trap Sing McKnight” track lists.

 

On 1st July, La Flame previews new ‘UTOPIA’ merch that on the back states "THE 4TH ALBUM BY TRAVIS SCOTT" at Rolling Loud Rotterdam. Travis gives the tee and the ‘Jordan 1 Low Olives’ off his feet to a fan that sang the unreleased track “LOST FOREVER” word for word. Scott’s security allowed the fan to get out the festival safely with the rare pieces.

Alongside multiple new billboards, a Utopia Bus is also spotted with imagery relating to and teasing the album. 

On 7th July Travis' website is updated, and the shop becomes password protected suggesting that something is coming soon.

The day after Travis headlines Wireless Festival in London with a new mountain-like stage design.

 

On 9th July, La Flame returned to instagram with lots of new information.

First uploaded was three short videos from different locations: Houston, Miraval and Malibu. These clips were shot with the “eyeball effect” making you feel like you was in the room watching. The last video in Malibu included Scott in the studio with Rick Rubin where he compliments the beat Travis made. “That’s really good” - RR

“That’s probably like the second beat I made on the album”- TS

Travis then officially announced the Egypt performance scheduled for the 28th.

Finally the 'UTOPIA' merch bundles released through shop.travisscott.com, and revealed that the album will have 5 covers.

 

The Cactus Jack x A24 film that was supposed to coincide with the release of his upcoming Utopia album, currently has doubts that it will ever be released. As the film is reportedly in “serious limbo” as Travis is currently refusing to sign off on it.  Harmony Korine (director of Gummo and Spring Breakers) secretly directed the A24 movie written by and starring Scott. The project is said to be an action-oriented feature film “shot entirely in infrared”.

Back in 2022 videos surfaced of Travis shooting a video on a boat with masked and armed actors. The behind the scenes footage showed that Korine was also on the boat directing, however fans believed that it was a music video for the unreleased track “God’s Country”

Travis would then go on to announce an upcoming single with The Weeknd and Bad Bunny dropping on the 21st. He then continues to post and tweet hinting at an album drop next week. “K-POP” releases with physical copies and an accompanying music video. These visuals indicate a Utopia stadium tour is on the way.

Travis and his team are geniuses when marketing his projects so it was no surprise that they would be ready with merch for Utopia. In the US Scott’s last album Astroworld debuted at number one on the Billboard charts with 537,000 album equivalent units which included 270,000 pure album sales. This was extremely successful through the marketing and taking advantage of merch bundles. Throughout the week of release every 24 hours a new merch capsule would drop.

With the 2023 change to billboard rules. The new combinations of merch and albums, dubbed “fan packs,” will once again allow fans to support their favourite artists on the charts in a way that research suggests that many would like to. Fan packs must now include a psychical copy of an album and must be ready to ship the same week which is great as fans will not have to wait weeks/ months to receive their order.

On shop.travisscott.com it features the slogan “CREATE YOUR OWN UTOPIA” this almost  gives the fans their own experience and gives them a choice while making them feel apart of something bigger. Lots of people will want to purchase most if not all of the collection which will subsequently boost the album sales. Despite the 5 year gap, I believe UTOPIA will perform extremely well and will match or even surpass the first week sales of ASTROWORLD.

 

At his Rolling Loud show in Miami, Travis open with a trailer of his upcoming movie releasing 7/28, titled "CIRCUS MAXIMUS" Finally, Travis confirms that he will release his fourth album UTOPIA on the same day, Friday 28th July...

Throughout the show hieroglyphics appeared on screen. These can be translated to 5 possible song titles : ‘Till Further Notice’,
‘Sirens’, ‘Delresto', 'Hrena' and 'Modern Game’ which are expected to appear on the album.

Finally on July 25th we got official news confirmed.

 This first being the a24 film by Harmony Korine and Jordi Molla is titled AGGRO DR1FT and will debut at Venice Film Festival. Travis would also post the trailer for his upcoming movie "CIRCUS MAXIMUS" that will be releasing July 27. La Flame finally announced Utopia via twitter with the official release date.  Also posting Cover #3 on his Instagram with the cation "THIS IS ONE OF THE COVERS FOR MY 4TH ALBUM UTOPIA, SHOT BY PIETER HUGO, THE JOURNEY THRU THE ALBUM TOOK ME ALL OVER THE WORLD AND CANT WAIT TO FINALLY DROP THE ALBUM, THE MAIN COVER WILL DROP THURS UNTIL THEN A COVER EVERYDAY LOVE U SEE U IN UTOPIA". The following day mysterious totem polls would appear in Utopia, Texas playing ominous sounds. As well as posting the second and fifth versions of the cover. Later that day, after a lot of mixed signals the pyramids event was cancelled. However Trav took to Twitter to say "Egypt at the pyramids will happen", and "But in good news I had 4 more of these type of experiences in other places.

COORDINATES SOON REACH"

We are in the final hours to Utopia. Now we just wait for the last 2 covers and for the album to finally drop!

follow @ridgewayreload for all the latest info  + look out for my first physical magazine coming soon